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I hope you are trolling for the sake of spirited conversation, but I fear you are not.... Yielding to the lower jumper is NOT OBSOLETE! In fact, your suggestion is dangerous and I encourage jumpers to disregard it. The reasons we yield to the lower jumpers are simple. First, jumpers in the pattern are (correctly) focused on their landings, which dictates giving primary attention to what is BELOW them. Jumpers are ALWAYS responsible to clear the area in their flight path - like clearing the area to the left or right AND below before making a turn. This includes pattern flight and final approach. Second, it is often impossible to see traffic above us because our canopies block much of the view. Yielding to the higher jumper simply doesn't make sense and much of the time would be impossible because of the blocked view. It also distracts from the mission at hand - clearing the flight path ahead and below, and landing safely. The "low person has the right of way" is a basic premise in all of aviation. CFR 92.113.g states in part "When two or more aircraft are approaching an airport for the purpose of landing, the aircraft at the lower altitude has the right-of-way...". Additionally, the USPA Skydiver's Information Manual agrees with this rule. SIM Section 6-1.C.3.c states "the low person has the right-of-way both in freefall and under canopy". Deciding on our own to buck accepted practices leads to confusion, and that leads to problems. As for high performance canopies and the jumpers who fly them, they are ALWAYS responsible to yield to lower traffic. This makes perfect sense. The higher jumper has the best field of view of the jumpers below them, they can monitor lower traffic without looking away from their flight path, they have more altitude to make an avoidance maneuver if necessary, and it's consistent with aviation and skydiving norms. I am a former high performance canopy jumper (and still have a rate of descent faster than many others) and can say in practice that yielding to the lower jumper works. When I am descending faster than the jumpers below me, I have the best opportunity to observe what they are doing and have the best field of view to decide how to avoid conflict. There are a lot of great ideas out in the field. Suggesting lower jumpers attempt to yield to traffic above them is a really, REALLY bad idea. My suggestion to other jumpers - no disrespect intended - is to COMPLETELY ignore your advice.

Sarcasm on DZ.com can get people hurt or killed and it needs to be noted in the comment, not several comments or threads away. MODS - The comment this refers to should be noted and or deleted.

Happy Halloween! Enjoy a new episode of The Cooper Vortex! DB Cooper was a Criminal with James Calhoun. https://thecoopervortex.podbean.com/e/db-cooper-was-a-criminal-james-calhoun/

You are WAY off base with that comment. USPA encourages skydivers to chase their passion, and promotes best practices regardless of the discipline. Is canopy piloting safe? Nope. Not even close. CP is dangerous - damn dangerous - but that doesn't mean USPA should discourage it. Is freeflying safe? Nope. How about CRW? FS? And then there's speed skydiving. Consider a premature deployment at 300 mph. Nothing we do is safe. The CP culture is the most peer-policed discipline in skydiving. Go to a CP comp sometime and observe. You will see the best pilots on the planet coaching, mentoring, and critiquing - all with the goal of keeping one another safe. CP has come a long, long way since the days of toggle hooks and ditch digging. Today's pilots have a deep understanding of the science behind the discipline and continuously hone their skills and education to stay as safe as possible. They are also acutely aware of the risks. From an organizational perspective, the ISC (International Skydiving Commission) and national-level organizations like USPA have and do modify competitions rules and practices to make safety a top priority. One great example is the change in distance rules that now require pilots to stay below a certain height for a portion of the run before climbing their canopies. This was done specifically because folks were getting injured by climbing so high that landings were becoming sketchy. I have been following the competition CP community for over a decade. My son is one of the top pilots in the world. Do I worry about him? Every single day. Would I ever dream of discouraging him from doing what he loves? Never. USPA does not "endorse canopy piloting competitions that encourage skydivers to land in very unsafe ways". USPA encourages skydivers of all disciplines to conduct their activities as safely as possible. Some disciplines are more dangerous than others, but none of them are safe. Canopy piloting is not safe. Neither is any skydive you have ever made or ever will.

His only goal is to "own the libs" so anything that he thinks supports his agenda is both good for him and bad for his enemies (i.e. most of America.)

This actually brings up a fascinating point. The human wingspan is 'fixed' to a degree - this is true - but within a range that fluctuates from person to person. You can look up concepts like 'wingspan' or 'armspan' and their effects on many different sports. I wonder if wingsuiting is the same. Does anyone know if we've quantified the effects? If we look at some of the best wingsuit pilots in the world for example, do they have abnormally long arms? Are they abnormally tall? In a few sports there is talk about the 'ape index' (ratio of wingspan/armspan to height) playing an important role in performance. I really wonder if that could be the same here.

Hi John, I am 82 yrs old. I have travelled in Asia, South America, Europe [ including some eastern European countries ], Mexico, Canada & 44 of the US states. I have never needed a gun, or any other type of weapon, to protect myself. It is clearly phooey! for anyone that looks into it. Jerry Baumchen

Since we're on that subject. I'm not a fan of taping up pc handles, especially in base. It defeats one of the big advantages of the handle in my opinion; being able to grip it with the edges. I'm much more a fan of stuffing the handle with pipe insulation and holding in place with double sided tape. If you fall through cloud and the taped up handle gets wet...

Those barrels are going to suffer a bit lol

Oh no. I knew Robert years ago when I jumped at Cal City. One of the kindest, coolest, funniest, most generous people ever. So sad to hear. So sorry for the loss.

We'll miss you, my Cousin from Boston.

The Pegasus was made by Django, and I'm pretty sure it was Mike Furry's first foray into canopy-making. It didn't have the problem with collapsing end cells of the Cruiseair; all in all, a very nice canopy to fly. I had a Firefly (Peg's little brother) which I eventually added 2 cells to (to compensate for increasing age & porosity) and still have in my backup rig. All in all, the Pegasus didn't have any bad habits that I remember. The Cruiseair had end cell problems, the Unit didn't really like to open, the Cloud & Viking (& Superlite) & Foils had a high toggle pressure, and the Pegasus & Firefly were absolutely great. My memory is that the Cruiselite was a second-generation of the Cruiseair, with the end-cell closure problem fixed. Also a VERY nice canopy, but expensive for its time (over $1000!) Wendy W. There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)